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3 weeks ago | 
globalvoices.org | Arzu Geybullayeva |Sinan Ciddi |Meghan Bodette |Oiwan Lam |Arzu Geybulla
An opposition-led boycott in Turkey started on March 19, the day Istanbul's mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was detained. That night, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party Özgür Özel told the crowd who gathered outside the Istanbul municipality headquarters to boycott pro-government media channels and a list of companies affiliated with the government on the grounds that the television channels did not cover the large scale demonstrations.
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4 weeks ago | 
globalvoices.org | Arzu Geybullayeva |Sinan Ciddi |Meghan Bodette |Saoussen Ben Cheikh |Arzu Geybulla
Turkey's new cybersecurity law, enacted on March 13, 2025, has sparked heated debate about its impact on digital rights, freedom of speech, media freedom, and access to information from the moment the bill was introduced in the parliament on January 10, 2025. Many Turkish experts, civil society groups, and international observers saw the law as a potential tool to restrict independent reporting and stifle dissent.
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4 weeks ago | 
globalvoices.org | Sinan Ciddi |Meghan Bodette |Arzu Geybullayeva |Saoussen Ben Cheikh
After nearly half a century of fighting, Turkey’s Kurdish rebels are ready to bring their insurgency to an end. If Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan takes talks seriously, this could benefit not just Turks and Kurds, but also Washington’s position in the region. But if Erdoğan and his government simply instrumentalize the promise of peace as a regional power grab, the challenges in U.S.-Turkey relations will only grow.
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Nov 19, 2024 | 
kurdishpeace.org | Meghan Bodette |Hoshang Hasan |Lisel Hintz
On November 4, Turkish authorities removed the elected Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party co-mayors of Mardin, Batman, and Halfeti districts and replaced them with “trustees” loyal to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). To date, a total of four DEM municipalities that the pro-Kurdish DEM Party won in this year’s local elections have been taken over by the central government in this way, depriving 362,684 voters of their chosen elected representation.
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Jun 4, 2024 | 
kurdishpeace.org | Lisel Hintz |Meghan Bodette |Hoshang Hasan |Kamal Chomani
When we talk about the ‘Kurdish question’ in Turkey, two of the major problems being discussed are authoritarianism and anti-Kurdish racism. Kurdish people face state-sponsored discrimination and violence on the basis of their ethnic identity. They also lack access to meaningful democratic avenues by which to effect political change.
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Jul 25, 2023 | 
kurdishpeace.org | Meghan Bodette
For over a year, members of Congress have identified Turkish military actions in neighboring countries, including attacks on Syrian Kurdish forces, as obstacles to the potential sale of 40 new F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. Following Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent promise to forward Sweden’s NATO accession bid to parliament for ratification, the Biden administration has engaged with Congress to push key members to support the sale.
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May 13, 2023 | 
kurdishpeace.org | Matthew Petti |Frederike Geerdink |Meghan Bodette |Calvin Wilder
The districts of Turkey where Kurdish votes weren’t respected saw far more violence, data shows. Turkish presidential elections are set for May 14, and incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan could lose power for the first time in two decades. Observers warn that the vote will be “neither free not fair,” and opposition supporters fear they will suffer a violent reaction should challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu win.
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May 10, 2023 | 
kurdishpeace.org | Meghan Bodette |Calvin Wilder |Kamal Chomani |Serhat Tutkal
Download the Full ReportDownload the Executive SummaryExecutive SummaryIn recent months, the United States has made its most concentrated efforts to date to address the armed conflict between the government of Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and, more broadly, Turkey’s “Kurdish question” – the unresolved debate over what civil, political and cultural rights the country’s Kurdish minority should be guaranteed.
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Apr 3, 2023 | 
kurdishpeace.org | Matthew Petti |Dan Storyev |Matt Broomfield |Meghan Bodette
Turkey’s Bayraktar drones have become a controversial symbol inspiring both fear and pride. Ukrainians love them, Armenians and Kurds hate them—but either way, the symbolic status of the drones helps Turkish military profiteers line their pockets. Ukraine loves Bayraktar. The pop song “Bayraktar,” written by soldier Taras Borovok, wafts from car radios and speaker systems around the country.
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Feb 28, 2023 | 
kurdishpeace.org | Meghan Bodette |Hoshang Hasan |Matthew Petti
International engagement in reviving peace talks between the government of Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) would be viewed positively by the Kurdish side, Union of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK) Co-Chair and founding member of the PKK Cemil Bayik told the Kurdish Peace Institute in an exclusive interview. With security conditions in the PKK’s mountain strongholds in Iraqi Kurdistan prohibiting an in-person meeting, the KCK co-chair responded to questions sent in writing.
